Tackle storage is an essential part of keeping your gear organised and protected. A disorganised tackle system can cost you precious fishing time, damage your tackle or make changing lures too much effort, causing you to persist with a rig that may not be working.
Anglers spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on tackle and lures but seldom give much thought to how they’re going to store it. Here in Australia, we use a huge variety of different tackle thanks to our access to so many fresh and saltwater species within close proximity, something not many other countries can boast.
However, we have traditionally been left with limited options at our local tackle store when it comes to storage. The boom in fishing and a high demand for tackle post-COVID saw new products hitting our shores and stores looking at different options, which in turn has seen some great products becoming more accessible.
A brand that offers some innovative tackle storage solutions is Flambeau, a household name in America and one that is starting to catch the eye of anglers here in Australia. I have been using many of their products for some time now and while they offer excellent construction and innovative features such as Zerust (a rust prevention technology), their greatest attribute are designs that suit some difficult to store products.
I have for review one such product which is the Max Rigging Box (MRB). The MRB is a briefcase/satchel-style design and features Flambeau’s Zerust technology impregnated throughout the whole box (some models feature it only within the dividers). You’ll note that models featuring Zerust throughout the whole box are grey in colour.
This box is designed for terminal tackle on the underside, then on the top (as the company’s product images suggest), you can add in tools, soft plastic packets and other items. It’s a functional design for terminal tackle and if you’re looking for a handy all-in-one solution this is a great option.
I have personally been using Flambeau’s similar Tuff Tainer Satchel to effectively store big wakebaits. Big baits in the form of swimbaits, glidebaits and wakebaits, have always been challenging to effectively store, and with this style of American and Japanese lure ranging from $50 to well over $100 you don’t want issues such as scratches, colour bleed and kinked tails. I therefore have opted to use the Max Rigging Box to store large glidebaits, which are all expensive and have been hard to store prior to this box.
As you’ll note from the images, I store baits up to 200mm in the underside (I managed to fit 28 of varying size), and on the top where the divider sits, I can store extremely large baits such as the Deps Slide Swimmer 250, Gan Craft Jointed Claw 303 and the bulky Deps Bullshooter 160. All these baits take up a lot of room in a deep 3700 size tray, get tangled and you can’t fit many. In the Max Rigging Box I can fit a large amount of big baits in what is a relatively compact unit. When in storage I take the removable tails off all my baits to prevent any kinks or distortion and keep them in a slim fly box, which I can fit in the upper tray. There is also room for associated tackle such as clips and chin weights.
In terms of effective storage for big baits I don’t know of anything that’s better and with a retail price of around $75 it costs less than the average price of one lure I’m storing in here. The bonus of the Zerust rust inhibitor is also worth its weight in gold when you’re upgrading the hooks and split rings on many of these lures.
Whether you want to use it for its intended purpose of terminal tackle or big baits, this is a great piece of tackle storage that has endless options for hard-to-store tackle such as large crankbaits, jerkbaits and trolling minnows.
The lid and divider all fit into each other easily and the plastic used isn’t brittle so won’t crack easily, and it won’t easily distort either. They’ve used heavy-duty latches that lock in sideways, so they aren’t prone to pop off when you’re pulling the box in and out of the boat. It’s a great product that solves many tackle storage issues for boat anglers and I’ll be getting a few more for other large lures.
Words & Images: Kosta Linardos